Method of making a package



Sept. 3, 1940. J

J. YATES 7 METHOD OF MAKING A PACKAGE Filed Jan. 15, 1939 ATTORNEY YPatented Sept. 3, 1 940 METHOD OF MAKING A PACKAGE John Yates, Quincy,Mass., assignor to Pncu matic Scale Corporation,

Limited, Quincy,

Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application January, 13, 1939,Serial No. 250,762

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of making a package and particularlyto a method of making a. container for dispensing tea or othercommodity.

The invention has for an object to provide a novel method of making acontainer of the socalled envelope type comprising a perforate bag madeup of two sheets of material joined together at the marginal edgesthereof to enclose the commodity, and which method substantially reducesthe cost of manufacturing the container.

To this end the present method of combining two different materials toform the opposite sides of the container permits a wide range in thechoice of materials comprising the opposite walls, one advantage beingthat the use of a substantial quality of material for one wall of thecontainer permits the use of a les expensive or less-substantial qualityof material for the opposite wall, the more substantial side beingadapted to support the less substantial wall when the materials arecombined to form a container for the purpose described.

A further and more specific object of the invention is to provide anovel method of adhesively combining two different materials such asCellophane or parchment paper to form a container for dispensing acommodity such as tea by which the container may be produced in aneconomical, simple and practical manner.

With these general objects in view and such others as may hereinafterappear, the invention consists in the method and various steps thereof,hereinafter described and particularly defined in the claims at the endof this specification.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view in perspective of one formof apparatus used in making the present bag and illustrates the methodemployed in adhesively combining the materials forming the two walls ofthe container; Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 illustrating amodified form of the apparatus; Fig. 3 is a view illustrating stillanother modification of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is adetail in cross-section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a similar view with the section being taken on the line 55 ofFig. 2, and Fig. 6 is another sectional view taken on the line 6-6 ofFig. 3.

In.the manufacture of the so-called envelope or pillow type bags fordispensing a commodity such as tea, the body of the container is usuallyformed from a single sheet of a textile fabric such as gauze by foldingover a length of the material and sewing together the free marginalportions of the bag thus formed to enclose a charge of tea, coffee orother commodity therein. At the present time, tea. bags of thisconstruction are produced by standard tea bagging machines of theconstruction illustrated in the United States patent to Dalton, No.1,688,268, October 16, 1928.

One feature of the present invention aims to .provide a. method ofmaking a package for dispensing tea from different materials such asperforated parchment paper, perforated "Cellophane and any of thevarious forms of filter paper which may be found suitable, or'fromvarious combinations of such materials by longitudinally combining twoseparate webs of material to form one wide web having the two halfsections composed of different materials or materials of differentquality or characteristics, applying adhesive to the web thus formed andthen folding the web along the longitudinal center line. The folded webthus formed may then be advanced and separate charges of tea or othercommodity deposited between the folded sides at intervals. along thestrip. The separate charges of the commodity are confined to the area ofthe strip onto which they are deposited and the longitudinal free edgesof the strip are then pressed together to bring the adhesive surfaces insealing engagement, thereby forming a tube containing separate chargesof the commodity. After the tube has thus been formed the strip issevered to form bag sections and the transverse severed edges may bethen pressed together in any usual or preferred manner to completelyseal the bag along the adhesive coated surfaces. The. bag thus formedmay have perforations through both walls thereof or through one wallonly, leaving the other wall plain.

A wide range of materials may be used to produce a bag by the presentmethod and the adhesive used may be any of the known composi tions oftasteless and odorless glues now, upon the market. For some purposes itmay be preferred to use an adhesive of a type which may be permitted todry out after being applied to the web and which may be thereaftersealed by heat and pressure. When the adhesive applied to the web isleft in its moist condition, pressure alone may be used to presstogether the surfaces so coated to close the container.

Referring now to the drawing, which illustrates ing as tocharacteristics. The separate webs i6, 16 of such material are fed pastadhesive applying devices 26, 22 which are adapted to apply adhesive tothe longitudinal inner edges of each web. The webs are then passed overguide rollers sufficiently spaced apart to permit the adhesively coatedsurfaces to dry out and become non-tacky. The webs l6, II are thenguided over rollers l6, 2| and'brought together in overlapping relationalong. the adJacent longitudinal edges and the adhesively coatedsurfaces are pressed together by heated pressure rollers 24. The web Illthus formed is then guided over a roller 26 and past an adhesiveapplying roll 26 which is adapted to apply adhesive along the outerlongitudinal edges 26, 30 and also to apply transverse strips 62 ofadhesive at intervals in the length of the web corresponding to the bagsections to be formed. After passing over guide rollers to permit theadhesive to become non-tacky the continuously advancing web is caused topass around the guide roller 64 and between creasing rollers 36, 36which are arranged to form a crease along the longitudinal center lineof the'web l6. The sides of the web are then folded upwardly and passedthrough a forming member 40. As the longitudinal folded strip is fedforwardly, separate charges ofv a commodity are deposited between thefolds of the web by a-suitable. filling unit indicated diagrammaticallyat 42. The web may be gripped and advanced by suitable continuouslytravelling gripper units 44 which close upon the folded strip at pointsin advance of and behind the charge of tea or other commodity therein.The web then passes a second pair of heated pressure rollers 46 whichseals the upper open edge of the strip toform a tube with the charges ofthe commodity deposited at intervals along the length thereof. While thestrip is advancing continuously, knives 46, 56 operate upon thetravelling strip at points midway between the adjacent gripper units 44and sever the strip into bag sections each containing a charge of thecommodity being packaged and held by a gripper unit 44. As the gripperunits continue their advance, they are successively rotated through 'aquarter revolution as illustrated diagrammatically at 52 thus bringingthe bag sections into position to bring one of the severed edgesuppermost where it may pass between the pressure rollers 54, which arepreferably heated and operate to seal one end of the bag.

The further advance of the gripper units 44 causes the grippers thereofto rotate successively through two quarter revolutions thus bringing theother end or severed edge of the bag section in uppermost position andin line with the heated pressure rollers 56. At this point in theprocess of producing the bag the usual handle comprising a tag 58attached to a string may be affixed to one corner of the completelysealed container in any usual or preferred manner such as by a metalfastener 66.

From the description thus far and by reference to the drawing, it willbe observed that the apparatus shown and described in the Dalton PatentNo. 1,688,268, above referred to, may bevconveniently adapted to producethe present bag by replacing the sewing heads with pressure rollers. Theapparatus for combining the two materials to form a single wide web andfor applying adhesive thereto may be a separate unit or may be a part ofthe bag forming machine as herein diagrammatically illustrated.

- material, either of different material or differ- The form ofapparatus illustrated in Fig.1 is adapted to join the overlappingadjacent edges of the material to form the folded bottom of the bag asclearly illustrated in Fig. 4.

A modification of the foregoing method is diagrammatically illustratedin Fig. 2 wherein the opposite walls of the container are adhesivelysecured face to face. The webs 62, 64 of the different materials aredrawn from horizontally mounted rolls 66, 66 and are arranged to passthrough the adhesive applying mechanism 16. The adhesive applying roll12 is designed to apply strips of adhesive 14 upon the upper surface ofthe longitudinal edges of both webs and each web is provided withtransverse strips of adhesive 16 conforming to the width of separate bagsections, as shown in Fig. 2. The webs thus prepared are advanced sideby side and then folded upwardly towards each other so that theadhesively coated surfaces are face to face. The webs are first securedalong the lower longitudinal edges by pressure rollers I6 which may beheated or not depending upon the composition of the adhesive used. Insome instances it may be preferred to run the adhesive coated webs 62,64 over rollers spaced apart to permit the adhesive to dry out, in themanner illustrated in Fig. 1, before threading the webs through themachine. thus formed is then passed through the guide member 66 to holdthe upper edges apart while the separate charges of the commodity aredeposited between the walls at intervals in the length of the strip. Theremaining operations to be performed to seal the upper edge, sever thestrip into bag sections and close the free edges of the container may besimilar to those described in connection with Fig. 1. Thus the two webs62, 64 comprising different kinds of materials or different grades ofthe same material are adhesively joined face to face along the lowerlongitudinal edges as clearly illustrated in Fig. 5.

Another modification of the present method is shown in Fig. 3. Astherein illustrated the webs 62, 64 are drawn from the verticallymounted rolls 66, 86 of the material which has been previously suppliedwith adhesive and which has been permitted to dry so that the adhesivelycoated surface is nofi-tacky. The webs are guided-between pins 90, 92and the upper longitudinal edges are sealed together by the heatedpressure rolls 64. The strip thus fomied is turned back upon itself,that is, inside out, so as to confine the adhesively sealed edge withinthe strip as clearly shown in Fig. 6. The strip thus formed is then fedthrough the forming member 65 and the bags are formed and completed ashereinbefore described.

From the description thus far it will be ob-- served that the presentmethod of producing the present package is such as to permit maximumeconomy in the choice of materials comprising the opposite walls of thecontainer. Thus a high grade substantial material which will hold itsshape when immersed in the hot water may be used for one side of the bagand a less expensive grade of material may be used for the other side,the more substantial side being adapted to support the opposite sidewhen combined to form a bag, and the bag may be produced at minimumexpense.

' While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been hereinillustrated and described, it will be understood that the same may beembodied in other forms within the scope of the following claims.

The strip Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. The method of making a tea, coffee or simi lar bag which consists inadvancing two separate strips of bag forming material side by side,

adhesively aifixing adjacent longitudinal edge portions to form arelatively wide web, then applying adhesive to the longitudinal edgeportions of the relatively wide web and also in transverse strips spacedto correspond to the bags to be vformed, then folding the web along thelongitudinal center line into substantially U-shape, depositing chargesof the commodity at spaced intervals corresponding to the bags to beformed, confining the charges to the areas of the web upon which theyare disposed and then pressing together the longitudinal free edges ofthe web to adhesively aflix the same, severing the web into bag sectionsand then pressing successively the transverse severed edges toadhesively aftfi)x the same and form the tea, coffee or similar 2. Themethod of making a tea, cofiee or similar bag which consists inadvancing two strips of bag forming material having adhesive appliedthereto to forma series of spaced bag forming sections, combining thestrips along adjacent longitudinal edges to form a relatively wide web,then folding the web longitudinally into substantially U-shape,depositing successive charges of the commodity between the folded sidesof the web and within said bag forming sections, and thereafteradhesively afiixing the adhesive portions of the web and severing theindividual bag forming sections into individual filled bags.

3. The method of making a tea, coffee or similar bag which consists inadvancing two strips of bag forming material having adhesive appliedthereto to form a series of spaced bag forming sections, combining thestrips along adjacent longitudinal edges to form a relatively wide web,then applying adhesive to the longitudinal edge portions of therelatively wide web and also in transverse strips spaced to correspondto the bags to be formed, then folding'the Web along the longitudinalcenter line into substantially U-shape, depositing charges of thecommodity at spaced intervals corresponding to the bags to be formed,confining the charges to the areas of the web upon which they aredisposed and then pressing together the longitudinal free edges of theweb to adhesively afilx the same, severing the web into bag sections andthen pressing successively the transverse severed edgesto adhesivelyafiix the same and form the tea, coffee or similar bag.

4. The method of making a tea, coffee or similar bag which consists inadvancing two separate strips of equal width-of bag forming materialside by side, adhesively aflixing' adjacent longitudinal edge portionsin overlapping relation to form a relatively wide web, then applyingadhesive to the longitudinal edge portions of the rela-* tively wide weband also in transverse strips bags to be formed, confining the chargesto the g 3 areas of the web upon which they are disposed and thenpressing together the longitudinal free edges of the web to adhesivelyafiix the same,

ing a quick drying adhesive to the longitudinal edge portions of therelatively wide web and also in transverse strips spaced. to correspondto the bags to be formed, permitting the adhesive to dry out, thenfolding the Web along the longitudinal center line into substantiallyU-shape, depositing charges of the commodity at spaced intervalscorresponding'to the bags to be formed, confining the ,chargesto theareas of the web upon which they are disposed and then applying heat andpressure along the longitudinal free edges of the web to adhesivelyaffix the same, severing the web into bag sections and then pressingsuccessively the transverse severed edges to adhesively affix the sameand form the tea, cofiee or similar bag.

6. The method of making a tea, coffee or similar bag which consists inadvancing two separate strips of bag forming material side by side,adhesively afiixing adjacent longitudinal edge portions to form arelatively wide web, then applying adhesive to the longitudinal edgeportions of the relatively wide web and also in transverse strips spacedto correspond to the bags to be formed, then folding the web along thelongitudinal center line into substantially U-shape, depositing chargesof the commodity at spaced intervals corresponding to the bags to beformed, confining the charges to the areas of the web upon which theyare disposed and then pressing together the longitudinal free edges ofthe web to adhesively affix the same, severing the web into bag sectionsand then pressing successively the transverse severed edges toadhesively afiix the same, and affixing a handle comprising a tagattached by a string to one corner of the bag to form the tea, coffee orsimilar bag.

7. The method of making a tea, cofiee or similar bag which consists inadvancing two separate strips of bag forming material side by side,adhesively aflixing adjacent longitudinal edge portions to form arelatively wide web, then applying adhesive to the longitudinal edgeportions of the relatively wide web and also in transverse strips spacedto correspond to the bags to be formed, forming a crease along thelongitudinal center line of the combined web, then folding the web alongthe longitudinal center line into substantially U-shape depositingcharges of the commodity at spaced intervals corresponding to the bagsto be formed, confining the charges to the areas 011 the web upon whichthey are disposed and then pressing together the longitudinal free edgesof the web to adhesively afiix the same, severing the web into bagsections and then pressing successively the transverse severed edges toadhesively afiix the same and form the tea, coffee or similar bag.

JOHN YATES.

